


A Mage, of All Things

by welseykels



Series: Dragon Age: Mira Amell [2]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Angst, Comfort, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-20
Updated: 2015-08-06
Packaged: 2018-04-05 05:32:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4167798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/welseykels/pseuds/welseykels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mira Amell deals with her feelings about Cullen and the atrocities that befell Kinloch Hold.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> [Check out my writing masterpage on tumblr!](https://welseykels.tumblr.com/writing)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt on tumblr from [mahayla224](http://mahayla224.tumblr.com/): Alistair comforting amell!warden after visiting the tower and having Cullen break her heart when they save him.

“I haven’t seen him yet either.”  Wynne watched Mira as she lifted the helm on yet another slain Templar guard to see his face, answering a question she didn’t ask. Mira had done this for every single Templar whose identity couldn’t been seen at a glance, which was almost all of them.

She had had only three friends in the tower. Jowan, Maker help him… Maker help her, was still in a cell in Redcliffe awaiting their return with the ashes for the Arl.  Anders, Wynne had explained, was safe down in the dungeons, still serving his year of solitary confinement after his last escape attempt. No abominations had made their way down to that part of the tower. That left just one unaccounted for.

Of course Wynne would know exactly who she was desperately hoping was not under each bit of armour she lifted. The whole tower had known that a certain mage and a certain Templar had been sweet on one another.

“Seen who?” Alistair’s head turning in Wynne’s direction. _Maker, she didn’t want to explain to Alistair just who she was searching for._

“A… a friend.”  The words were weak when they left her mouth.  It wasn’t a lie, it’s just the word didn’t have the right meaning for him.  As much as a jailor and his charge could be friends.  She’d hoped for more.  Hoped for more in that kiss she’d placed on his lips.  That one solitary moment when they had touched.  

How was she supposed to tell Alistair that?  How was she supposed to tell him that when all she’d been hoping for over the past few weeks was that Alistair’s lips would soon chase away the ghost of a kiss left by the man she was searching for.

They were almost to the Harrowing Chamber now, there weren’t many other other places he could be.  She had never been faithful, simply taking the Maker’s name in vain out of habit, a way to cope over the Chantry’s views of mages, but she prayed now.  She prayed because she knew that that would be what Cullen would do.  Prayed that he was alive somewhere in the next few rooms.

When they’d reached the vestibule of the Harrowing Chamber, her heart stopped.  Cullen was there, alive.

“This trick again? I know what you are. It won’t work. I will stay strong…”

She ran across the room, forgetting to check if there were any dangers around them, pressing her hands up to the shimmering violet case around him.  "Cullen! Don’t you recognize me?“  

“Only too well.”  

She almost didn’t recognize his voice from the venom it was laced with.  And for one horrible moment she’d almost wished her prayers hadn’t been answered.

* * *

Alistair found her outside of camp that night, sitting alone with her back against a tree, her knees drawn up to her chest.  

She’d fled from the tower after they’d brought the First Enchanter to the Knight-Commander, her eyes falling on something before they welled up with tears, turning quickly away to leave out the door.

Alistair looked to what she had seen, it was that Templar, Cullen, they had found alive.  Alistair guessed that he hadn’t simply been just a friend with the words the man had said and Mira’s reaction.  A twinge of jealousy sped through him at the thought, replaced quickly by resentment towards the man for how he had treated Mira.  Maker, Alistair hadn’t even kissed her yet and she was the only thing he could think about.  

He wouldn’t press her for an explanation, he just wanted her to know he cared for her.  Maybe he’d make a joke, to make her laugh, he liked when she laughed. Her smile was one he wanted to see everyday.  

She whipped around when he accidentally stepped on a twig, alerting her to his presence.  She hurried to wipe away the tears that had fallen, not wanting him to see.  His heart ached at the thought that she was hiding her pain.  He wanted to be someone she could rely on.  But he wouldn’t push it, he’d let her open up to him if and when she wanted.  

He settled down beside her, slowly putting his arms around her, searching for any sign that she wanted him to leave.  But there were none.  Instead, she curled herself into him, her breath still hitching from time to time.

* * *

_Sifting through my thoughts… tempting me with the one thing I always wanted but could never have…_

Mira tried to block out his words, but they wouldn’t stop replaying over and over in her mind.  Even as Alistair held her, Cullen’s voice threatened to make her tears begin again.  She didn’t want to cry in front of Alistair, she couldn’t burden him with her pain when he already had so much of his own.  She wanted to shove him away, he was like Cullen had been at first, unafraid of her even though she was a mage.  They would only hurt each other.

_Using my shame against me… my ill-advised infatuation with her…_

But instead of pushing him away, she burrowed her face in Alistair’s shoulder, breathing in his scent, trying to chase away the thoughts of the first man she had loved, hoping that the second would be different.

_A mage, of all things._


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompted by an anonymous tumblr user: Tarantism - The urge to overcome melancholy by dancing. 
> 
> This happens a few days after the previous chapter.

“My dear Leliana, we have not heard your beautiful music for quite some time.  Would you regale us with a song?”

The camp had been too quiet since Mira, Alistair, Leliana, and Morrigan had returned from the Circle Tower with Wynne.  Something had changed in their fearless leader, she’d been withdrawn, not sitting with the others at the fire each night, preferring to stay in her tent or wander off into the surrounding woods.

And Zevran had noticed that the other Grey Warden had often followed her.  

But tonight, tonight she was sitting by the fire again.  Wynne had chosen to cook that night, and it was the first good meal they’d had in quite some time, since Alistair had started playing cook.  He could still see the dark circles under her eyes and the hollowness of her cheeks, but she was here for the moment.  She hadn’t slipped away yet.  Leliana had told him what had happened, how most from her past were now gone, the home she’d known almost destroyed, and the cruel things said by someone she had once loved.

The bard nodded at him, knowing full well what he was trying to do.  She picked up her lute and began to play a tune suited for dancing in a tavern.   _Perfect.  He could have kissed her, she was always on the same page as him when it came to the two Grey Wardens._

He stood from where he’d been lounging, holding his hands out to Mira as he approached her.  “Dance with me, you are too lovely not to have a dance partner when a song like this is played.”

She made to wave him away, mumbling how she didn’t feel like dancing, but his hands wrapped around hers and pulled her to her feet.

“Trust me, dancing will help, my dear warden.”  

Before he knew it, a smile was crossing her face as she tried to keep up with him, following his lead for the steps of the dance.  Soon, Wynne was pulling Alistair and Sten into a dancing circle with her, Oghren content to dance on his own.  Bruno barked excitedly, running around the group.  Morrigan and Shale remained by their usual places, watching them.

He kept catching glances of Alistair staring at them while they danced and an idea sparked in his mind.  He caught Leliana’s eye and winked at her, nodding his head towards the blond warden.   

She immediately began to pluck the chords to a slower tune.  Zevran slowed his movements with Mira, before taking her hand and planting a gentle kiss on her knuckles.  “It has been a pleasure, but I believe there is another who wishes a dance.”  He guided her over to Alistair, placing her small hand in his large one.

He settled down beside Leliana, watching the pair of wardens begin to sway and dance to the music.  He wanted to tell Alistair to be bold and move his hand a little lower than where it rested high on Mira’s waist, but he wouldn’t ruin the moment.  He could see the sparkle return to her eyes, a small laugh at something Alistair had said.

Their fearless leader was returning to them.


End file.
